Forgotten Realms: Other Stories
Here are told other stories relevant to the campaigns, that happened before or coeval with them. (They are not in chronological order!) 'The Dark Alliance' 'The Rise of Erebos' Berethor was born in a traditional military Waterdhavian family and was always the black sheep; although having become a fine warrior himself, his father and brother were paladins while he was more inclined to not-so-valorous fighting. He went through a “teenage rebel phase”, worshiping Bane and doing mercenary work. However, the many jobs and adventures involving undead led him to Kelemvor’s faith and to become a more pondered man. He, together with his mercenary companions, started to work for the red wizards (they paid much better) and moved to Eltabbar. There he summoned Kalithra, his devil cohort, and, by his prowess in combat and in his missions, started to gather some followers. When his group became too bothersome and dangerous for the red wizards, they were exterminated. Berethor, however, caught word of this beforehand and managed to escape from Thay, burning a great portion of the neighborhood near Eltabbar’s city gate. He got into a pirate ship to flee from Thay and wandered for a while with his group. Back to the western heartlands, Berethor became sickened by the ridiculous way in which the so-called city-states existed there. He was dealing with an undead problem to help one of these cities (Greenest) when occurred to him that he could be a more effective ruler. He then conquered the city, renamed it Iangnard, and boldly established the kingdom of Erebos. By conquering Durlag’s Tower, he suddenly became very rich and started to build his kingdom. He then married the daughter of one of the richest mercantile houses of Waterdeep and forged some alliances to secure his “right to rule the land”. King Berethor then started to attract all sorts of specialized workers and crafters, together with members of many churches. He aimed to turn his kingdom as a destiny for religious pilgrims and also as a leading name in craftsmanship. Although a very young kingdom, Erebos, by sheer will and strength, seem to have secured a place among the realms. 'The Shadow Thieves' The city of Greenest was not-so-secretly run by the Shadow Thieves of Amn, granting them control over a very important trading route with the heartlands to the north. King Berethor would have none of it though and the Shadow Thieves arranged many attacks to kill important people in the new government. However, they were no match for Berethor’s "monsters" (devils, lycanthropes etc). The king then sent a small group to Amn to keep the Shadow Thieves busy for a while, while he planned a great attack. The devils attacked and destroyed many of the thieves’ hideouts, even assassinating thieves that were part of Amn’s government. The Shadow Thieves were almost put out of business and Amn even considered starting a war. However, King Berethor’s new alliances (albeit tentative) with Calimshan, Tethyr, Baldur’s Gate, Waterdeep and Cormyr (not to mention the devils), put a stop to Amn’s ideas. 'Thay' After the final battle against Fzoul, the thayan wizard Fawkes disappeared. Two years later, he was seen again as the Zulkir of Necromancy in Thay, having defeated the former zulkir, the lich Szass Tam, and imprisoned him in his staff. Fawkes, with the help of some other zulkirs, became the de facto ruler of Thay (though he only adopted the title of “king” circa three years later). Fawkes stopped Szass’ plans of mercantile domination and returned to the old ways of Thayan military expansionism (that secured him the alliance of formerly unhappy zulkirs), conquering Aglarond, half of the Wizard’s Reach and North Unther. The Thayan army then received orders of pursuing legendary enchanted items and Fawkes even attacked three places (Evereska, Iangnard and Candlekeep) with a horde of demons in order to secure a mythal. The details of his alliance with the demons and his plans for the captured mythal (from Candlekeep) remain obscure. Finally, Fawkes secured an agreement with the Pirates of the Sea of Fallen Stars and the Legion; he also made a shaky alliance with Mulhorand regarding Unther. Thay’s dominion over the region of Wizard’s Reach was brought to an end by a small group of adventurers selected by Ashram and Merle. Meanwhile, the two children of Milsantos Daramos foiled the Thayans plan of conquering Skuld, the Mulhorandi capital. They also delivered a magical mirror (capable of contacting Szass) to Milsantos’ daughter, Evren, second wife of the Pharaoh. Finally, Liara et al., by uncovering the Thayans betrayal (and lycanthropic plans), helped Mulhorand secure South Unther and the Acolytes of the Moon and Isimud Gwynek to re-conquer North Unther. 'The Wandering Fox' Liara, an arctic fox lycanthrope, left her home in Icewind Dale after her “fox clan” was ruthlessly murdered by a red wizard. She went in pursuit of him almost to the borders of Amn, where she was captured by the wizards. She was saved by a group (Augustus & Co.) working for Erebos’ guard and joined them in a search for some people who went missing on the road to Iangnard. They eventually find the hideout of a red wizard who was kidnapping people to test a new Thayan invention for extracting liquid pain. They defeated the wizard and solved the problem (also, that was the first time Liara met Vierna, who was enslaved by a magical ring and “working” for the red wizards). After that, Liara, clueless as how to proceed with her vengeance, went with the same group to Zenthil Keep in a mission to recover a magical sword for the king of Erebos. They managed to recover it (that was the first time Liara met Theros, a half-drow warlock who was also working for Erebos) and Liara accidentally transmitted fox-lycanthropy to a poor deep-dwarf cleric. During her journey, Liara discovered the god Shaundakul and started to follow his faith. Since she was a divine spellcaster, she felt she should do some sort of pilgrimage in order to “officially” become a follower. She then went back to her home in Icewind Dale so she could build an altar to Shaundakul on an iceberg in the Sea of Moving Ice. On the way, she met her new companions, Jaya and Erina. The rest of Liara’s story can be found here. 'The Fæiraloth' It is said that among all drow, a single fæiraloth (this name means “the dark champion of Lolth”) is born in each generation. When the child first arrives in this world, the Spider Queen grants her blessing to her and the child is marked in some way (usually by emanating a different aura and/or by possessing unusual powers). The fæiraloth are almost always female but, despite being fiercely matriarchal, the capricious drow goddess sometimes grants her blessing to a male (some suppose that the outcast Drizzt Do’Urden is such a case). The fæiraloth usually becomes a powerful and influential drow. This generation, a fæiraloth was born in House Barrison Del’Armgo, in Menzoberranzan. Daughter of Matron Mother Mez’Barris Armgo and the house wizard Ta’alik Alauniira, the child was named Haellyn. Fearing what might become of his daughter (the first one was a mess), Ta’alik contacted Jarlaxle, leader of the elite mercenary group Bregan D'aerthe. Ta’alik hired some guides and bodyguards to see him safely to the surface. However, one of the bodyguards betrayed him and the group was followed by the soldiers of House Barrison Del’Armgo and a fierce battle took place. A ranger of the Bregan D'aerthe managed to secure an escape route for Ta’alik, who reached the surface exhausted. Ta’alik collapsed half-dead on the snow and was visited by a beautiful woman in golden clothes (an avatar of Tymora), who healed him and left a mark/blessing on little Haellyn. They were found by Guenhwyvar, who led the ranger Drizzt to them. He rescued them and set Ta’alik on the way to Cormanthor, where he could live among more “open-minded” surface elves. Haellyn grew up as a normal elf; the rest of her story can be found here. But eventually House Barrison Del’Armgo would discover that this generation’s fæiraloth was not dead as they assumed (a new one was never born, which led them to search for Haellyn). 'The Weapons of Gond' During the Time of Troubles, Gond created powerful weapons and gave them to his most faithful followers. After the Time of Troubles, the weapons were scattered and some were lost. 'Yuki' Yuki was after these legendary weapons and some (false) rumors led her to Evereska, where she joined Haellyn & Co. for a while. After failing to acquire Gond’s trident (that hanged on the wall of the captain’s cabin in the Blue Whale), Yuki left this group and ventured solo for a while. In her journey to the Mithrall Hall, she was joined by the ranger Jace and his companions, who shared the same quest. 'Argos & Jace' The weaponsmith and former adventurer Anders discovered that one of his former companions, Oriseus, was searching for the weapons of Gond and was up to no good. He left his home to take the weapon under his care (Gond’s flail) to Gond’s temple in Baldur’s Gate. However, he was murdered on the way by Oriseus’ mercs, who also managed to get the weapon. Anders left a letter explaining this to his disciple, Argos, who took the quest alongside his friend Jace. Argos and Jace recovered Gond’s warhammer from the ruins of Candlekeep and hid it in the temple in Baldur’s Gate. They then left in search of Oriseus and met the gnome Hammet, who joined them. Argos then strayed from his path and became a murderer. Jace and Hammet left him to his own luck and went to Mithral Hall, where the Battlehammer Clan supposedly guarded one of the weapons. 'The Fellowship' Yuki joined Jace and Hammet on the road to Mithrall Hall. There, they explained their quest to King Bruenor Battlehammer and, after a dwarvish “test of valor”, acquired Gond’s batlleaxe. Then they followed a tip from a wizard who said that one of the weapons had been recently stolen from a pasha in Calimport. They managed to steal the weapon (Gond’s falchion) with the help of Darian and his mercenaries. Afterwards, they went to Zenthil Keep, where one of Gond’s clerics (who had one of the weapons) was supposedly last seen. 'Gangs of Waterdeep' Darian was a regular rogue just trying to get some money for his father, who wanted to open a trap business in Waterdeep. During his errands and quests, Darian met some companions: Kondrur, a dwarf rogue; Collmar, a gnome ranger; and Ellis, a human warrior. Together they got into lots of trouble and eventually crossed paths with the Chimaeras, an uprising gang in the city, and killed a bunch of thugs. At a certain point, Darian’s father got kidnaped and the four companions destroyed every last Chimaera hideout in the city and killed their big boss. Now, Darian’s father has a shop and the group has also confiscated the many ex-hideouts. They have also worked for/together with Ulfric Whitewillow and the guard duo Cyrus and Kora, putting an end to curses, killing undead and even destroying one of Xvim’s remains. When a new gang, the Sabers, appeared in Waterdeep, Cyrus asked Darian to investigate. Kondrur and Ellis left the group, but Wade and Alana joined Darian and Collmar, alongside Ailiff, a dwarf alchemist. With the help of the gnome sisters Robbie and Bobbie, they managed to find a hideout of the Sabers and destroy their local leader (but not the true leader). Meanwhile, Darian founded a mercenary group called “Howling Worgs”, were hired by Erina (through her father Ulfric) to deactivate a Kossuthian relic, destroyed yet another one of Xvim’s remain and helped Jace & Yuki to retrieve one of Gond’s weapon (the falchion) from a thieving band running away from Calimport. 'Stories of the Purple Dragons' Baldor Bloodstone, a paladin of Torm, moved to Suzail, Cormyr, a place which he thought had the most valorous kings and knights. He was taken in by the Purple Dragon Knights and, after displaying both strength and an affinity for strategy, was discovered by Lady Airin. The high priest of Torm’s temple in Suzail and Lady Airin decided that Baldur (as a gray guard) was the right person to send on some “delicate” missions not suitable for other knights and paladins. That’s how he ended up in Laothkund, where he fought one of Xvim’s remains (the blood) and helped freeing the city from the red wizards. After all the trouble in Laothkund, Baldur returned to Suzail, but some other messy missions still waited him there. Together with the malconvoker Illia (who teleported to visit him every now and then), he found and defeated yet another one of Xvim’s remains (the yellow bile) on the mountains to the north Tilverton. They were helped by “Bram”, a marut (a type of inevitable) who was searching for “some undying fiend”. Later, Baldor, Illia, Halcyon (from the Maidens of War) and Jared (a priest of Ilmater) accepted a quest from the Maidens of War (the guard had ignored it) to check a village on the mountain border of Cormyr. The villagers were complaining of extreme weakness and feared an epidemic surge or an evil curse. Actually, a nabassu possessed the local lord and was experimenting on different ways for draining people’s energy (they need it in order to reach their mature state). The group killed the nabassu (and a handful of guecubi), but unfortunately could not save all the possessed villagers. 'Newkeep' After Candlekeep was destroyed, a group of adventurers set out to find a legendary mirror library. They traveled to the Astral Plane and found it under the care of monastic githzerai. Haellyn, one of these adventures, decided that the replica library should be teleported (using the place’s own mini-mythal and draining it completely in the process) to Suzail, Cormyr. The Cormyrean government gladly received it and set out to make the best of it. Illia heard about it (and then saw the library magically appear in Suzail) and decided to apply for a job there. She was elected to be the Master Librarian, working under Meganne Nightwind, who became the library’s Guardian. The Cormyrean government decided to uncreatively call the replica library as “New Candlekeep”, but this proved too long for the common folk, who quickly adopted the name “Newkeep”. Illia has now a lot of workers under her, the main ones being: Illyria, a githzerai and the former library’s guide; Clio, a newly-hired assistant librarian; Halvard, a sentient construct and the library’s keeper; Mímir, a tiny construct who can magically access lots of information regarding the library and its books. 'Mulhorand' 'The Keeper of Knowledge' Neith Ta-Hemi is the second in command in the temple of Thoth in Skuld, the Mulhorandi capital. Recently, there has been many problems regarding magical items in Skuld and, as priestess of Thoth, solving them was left to her (Aker, the high priest, was occupied with pharaonic business). She then set out on these quests, accompanied by the hexblade Ragnar Wyman, who couldn’t let her go alone. They solved a case of an aberration who was feeding on magic items (and killing guards) in the constructions of the Pharaoh’s new holy valley. They also discovered the theft of a powerful scepter (that belonged to the Witch Queen) by the Shadowmasters, who sold it to Tabitha, a priestess of Tiamat, who in turn used to resurrect the husk of an avatar of Tiamat in Unthalass. They also helped Nuray and Hakan to recover a magical mirror (see below). While Neith dealt with some pending issues at the temple, Ragnar went to Unthalass, where he helped Liara et al. to fight the aforementioned avatar. After that, Neith arrived in Unthalass and both joined Liara’s group and set off to retake North Unther (it was also a chance for Neith to study the fabled gem of the Thunder Bird, then under the fox-shaman's possession). 'Thayan Trouble' Milsantos Daramos, tharchion of Thazalhar, gave a mission to his step-daughter Nuray and his bastard son Hakan. They would take the magic mirror (capable of communicating with Szass Tam, former ruler of Thay) to his true daughter, Evren, second wife of the Pharaoh Horustep III. Nevertheless, the item was stolen on Skuld by Shadowmasters working for the red wizard Haaselt Doomsky. Nuray and Hakan failed to recover the item on their first try and the Shadowmasters escaped. Bèon, a local vigilante helped them to gather information (with Ilef, owner of a fight club) and they eventually discovered that the thieves went up the cursed River of Shadows. They hired Ozgur, a lizardfolk ranger to help them and also contacted Neith to magically track the mirror. The priestess asked as her price to go with them and have a chance to study the magic item. Neith and her companion Ragnar thus joined the entourage. They went to Akhenari, the abandoned city of the heretic Pharaoh, and discovered there that the Thayans were building a navy to attack Skuld and possibly take Mulhorand. They killed Haaselt, the mastermind behind it, recovered the mirror, freed the slaves working there and set fire to all the ships. Back in Skuld, they resurrected Nuray (who was killed in battle with Haaselt) and delivered the mirror to Evren. After that, Evren contacted Szass, who asked her to find one particular wizard, Meganne Nightwind, and give the mirror to her. Evren gave this mission to Taiya Amaunet and Ferenk Reseph, who eventually succeeded. Meganne and Szass, together with Caladnei (the Cormyrean royal mage) and the Maidens of War, then devised a plan to attack Fawkes on the Thaymount and reclaim the land for Szass. 'The Moon Maiden' On a village near the northwestern border of the High Forest, a duo of teens suddenly breaks through the tavern’s door. They were weary and beaten up by the troubles in their road and immediately approached Arion, a Lathanderite priest who was having lunch there. One of the teens, a girl named Thelyssa, asks Arion for help to reach a forgotten Selûne temple in the mountains to the north of the forest. The other teen, a boy named Cassius, is attacked by mercenaries in the tavern and falls to the ground. A battle then takes place Arion and his companions, Kora and Cyrus, protect the teens and are aided by Cyllene and Lyrodes, a couple of moon elves. After they are done with the marcs, Cyrus says that the boy is alive, only poisoned, and decides to stay behind and protect him while the others took Thelyssa to the temple. She was actually an outsider, an astral deva to be more precise, and was born to enact a very important ritual to her goddess. She was being followed by cultists of Shar and had to reach the temple (before the next full moon) to take a portal to her home plane. The newly formed group escorted her and found a good deal of trouble along the way: cultists, poisoned food, minotaurs, mercenaries, constructs and deadly traps. But eventually they reached the temple. While they waited for the moon light to activate the portal, they were attacked one last time by the leader of the Sharan cult, a woman clad in armor made of darkness (named Milla). They eventually won and Milla ran away. Thelyssa then thanked them and took the portal to her home plane, leaving behind a small reward to the group. Category:Story